Game Notes (PDF)

GAME DETAILS
Cornell vs. Dartmouth
Tip Off: Friday, March 2, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
Location: Leede Arena (Hanover, N.H.)
Records: Dartmouth (4-21, 2-9 Ivy); Cornell (11-14, 5-6 Ivy)
Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 52-13
Last Meeting: Cornell, 49-45 (2/4/12)
Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com
Video Webcast: DartmouthSports.com

Cornell vs. Harvard
Tip Off: Saturday, March 3, 2012; 6:00 p.m.
Location: Lavietes Pavilion (Cambridge, Mass.)
Records: Harvard (14-11; 7-4 Ivy); Cornell (11-14, 5-6 Ivy)
Series Record: Harvard leads, 56-11
Last Meeting: Harvard, 67-57 (2/3/12)
Live Stats: GoCrimson.com
Video Webcast: GoCrimson.com

THE MATCHUP: The Cornell women's basketball team will hit the road for the final time in the 2011-12 season when it travels to Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend. The Big Red will visit Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H., on Friday, March 2 at 7 p.m., and visit Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass. on Saturday, March 3 at 6 p.m. The Big Red has already surpassed last season's win totals both overall and in conference play. Live stats and live video will be available and links can be found at www.CornellBigRed.com.

THE SERIES VS. DARTMOUTH: Cornell's rivalry with Dartmouth began in the 1976-77 season when the Big Red squeaked out a 50-49 victory, but the Big Green has dominated ever since. Dartmouth holds the advantage in the all-time series, 52-13, but had an 11-game winning streak ended during the 2007-08 season when the Big Red earned a 50-43 victory at Newman Arena. Since that time, the two teams have split the last 10 meetings, with five of those games being decided by four or fewer points. Cornell won the first meeting 49-45 in Ithaca.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN: Perennial Ivy League challenger Dartmouth has struggled in 2011-12, dropping 13 consecutive contests mid-season and falling to 4-21 overall (2-9 Ivy) heading into Friday night's contest with the Big Red. Faziah Steen, who ranks among the conference's leading scorers at 15.5 ppg., is the squad's lone double figure scorer. The Big Green are shooting 35 percent for the season and 30 percent from the 3-point arc and are being outscored by more than 15 points per game. Dartmouth's defense has kept the team in games, allowing opponents to shoot just 39 percent from the floor and 30 percent from 3-point range. Head coach Chris Wielgus is in her 27th season on the sidelines for the Big Green and has directed the program to 12 Ivy League titles and seven NCAA tournament appearances.

THE SERIES VS. HARVARD: The Big Red first played Harvard in the 1974-75 season with Cornell winning the contest, 36-20, but from there, the Crimson has controlled the series, leading the Big Red 56-11, including a perfect 32-0 in contests against Cornell played in Cambridge, Mass. The Big Red snapped a seven-game skid to the Crimson in the first meeting of the 2007-08 season with an 85-61 victory at Newman Arena, but have dropped the past eight contests to Harvard.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard brings a 14-11 overall record (7-5 Ivy) into Friday night's game against Columbia. Harvard has wins over Massachusetts, TCU, St. John's and Boston University this season this year thanks to its balanced offense. Christine Clark leads the way at 15.2 ppg., while Brogan Berry (12.2 ppg.) and Victoria Lippert (1221 ppg.) are also in double figures. Berry also averages a league-best 4.4 assists to go along with 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. As a team, Harvard is hitting on 41 percent of its field goal attempts and outrebounding opponents by +5.1 rpg. Head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, in her 30th season on the sidelines, has guided the Crimson to 11 Ivy titles and eight postseason appearances, including six NCAA tournaments.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?:
• Cornell split its final full weekend home series, winning on a last-second basket by Clare Fitzpatrick on Friday evening before falling on Saturday to Yale.
• Clare Fitzpatrick's layup with three seconds remaining gave Cornell a 51-50 win over Brown.
• Shelby Lyman led the Big Red with 13 points, including 11 in the first half, and Fitzpatrick ended the evening with nine points and seven rebounds, including the game-winning basket.
• Maka Anyanwu notched eight points and Stephanie Long had seven in the win.
• The Big Red shot 43 percent from the floor and assisted on 16 of its 21 baskets.
• The win snapped a five-game win streak by Brown in the series.
• Yale hit eight 3-pointers and shot 49 percent from the floor overall to claim a 69-58 victory over the Big Red.
• Maka Anyanwu scored 17 points and had six rebounds and both Taylor Flynn and Allyson DiMagno notched 11 points for the Big Red, but 21 Cornell turnovers and Yale's hot shooting was enough for the Bulldogs to complete the season sweep.
• The visitors shot 61 percent after halftime and drilled 5-of-8 shots from 3-point range to earn the victory. Cornell's Clare Fitzpatrick scored six points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the home team won the battle of the boards, 35-32.

SENIOR CLASS: The Big Red will honor a pair of seniors, Maka Anyanwu and Allie Munson, prior to the Columbia game on Tuesday, March 6. Here is a brief sketch of their careers with the Big Red.
• Anyanwu, a two-year letter winner for the Big Red, transferred in from Umpqua Community College.  She has averaged 5.6 points and 3.6 rebounds while playing in 52 contests with 28 starts heading into the weekend.
• Munson, the 2011-12 captain, ranks among the school's career leader in blocked shots with 42. She has played in 92 career games and has recorded 283 points 348 rebounds while starting 28 contests entering the weekend series.

BIG SHOT: Sophomore Allyson DiMagno hit the game-winning shot with three seconds to play against Fordham, handing the Big Red the 40-39 victory. Junior Clare Fitzpatrick's basket with three ticks remaining also gave Cornell a 51-50 triumph over Brown.

BIG BOARDS: Clare Fitzpatrick grabbed 15 rebounds against Fordham on Jan. 2, becoming the first Big Red player to pull down 15 boards since Jeomi Maduka did so against Binghamton on Jan. 7, 2008, a span of 107 games.

SMALL WIN: The Big Red defeated Fordham, 40-39, on Jan. 2. The 40 points are the lowest scored by Cornell in a victory under head coach Dayna Smith. The previous mark was set during a 41-36 victory over Brown on Feb. 24, 2007 … The last time the Big Red won a game despite scoring 40 or fewer points came in a 36-20 victory over Radcliff during the 1974-75 season.

BIG WINS: So far this season, the Big Red has defeated three opponents – Cleveland State, Bucknell and Ithaca – by 20 points. The last time Cornell beat at least three opponents by 20 points came during the 2007-08 season when the Big Red won five games by at least 20 points.

PRESSURE FREE THROWS: Cornell is shooting 68.3 percent from the foul line for the season, but that number is helped by the fact that the Big Red is stronger from the charity stripe at the end of close games. In the final five minutes of games decided by 10 or fewer points, Cornell has hit 67.7 percent (21-of-31) from the foul line and 11-of-16 (68.8) in the final two minutes of those games.

CLOSE CALLS: The Big Red was in many close games during the 2010-11 season, with more than one-third of its contests being decided by eight points or less. In those games, Cornell posted a 5-5 record. So far this year the trend of close games has continued with the Big Red sporting a record of 5-3 in eight games decided by eight points or less.

BLOCKS A LOT: With her block against Eastern Michigan on Nov. 27, senior Allie Munson moved into Cornell's all-time blocks leader list with 41 for her career. She has since slipped out as junior Kristina Danielak surpassed Munson with her two blocks at Columbia and now has 46, while Clare Fitzpatrick is hovering just outside the top 10 with 44.

I'LL TAKE THAT: Last year, the Big Red averaged 6.3 steals per game. That was the best average since the 2007-08 team registered 6.8 steals per game. So far this season, Cornell is averaging an even more impressive 8.6 steals per game.

HELPING HAND: So far this season, Cornell has assists on 322-of-509 baskets (63.6 percent).

STARTING STREAK: Clare Fitzpatrick has started the last 66 games for the Big Red, dating back to Jan. 29, 2010. That is by far the longest current active streak on the team, with sophomore Allyson DiMagno's 48 straight starts ranking second.

IVY HONORS: After one of its most impressive wins of the season against Bucknell, a pair of Big Red players were honored with freshman Marissa Rakestraw earning Co-Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors by the conference office, while Clare Fitzpatrick was named the College Sports Madness Ivy Player of the Week.

STUDYING THE OPPONENTS: Since the 1980-81 season, the Big Red is 12-19 coming out of Cornell's two-week study break. However, Coach Smith's teams have fared much better, posting a record of 7-3 in the first game back from exams.

NOTING THE CLEVELAND STATE GAME: Cornell's 79-59 victory over Cleveland State was significant for the Big Red offense. It was the first time Cornell has scored at least 70 points since defeating Tennessee State on Nov. 21, 2009. It was also the first time the Big Red has shot 50 percent from the floor, or registered 50 points in a half since that game against Tennessee State. Finally, it was the first time Cornell defeated a team by 20 points since beating Ithaca College on Nov. 15, 2009. 

FITZPATRICK NOW INTO THE 800/400 CLUB: With her 19 points against Cleveland State, Clare Fitzpatrick surpassed the 600-point plateau for her career. In the game prior to that, against Eastern Michigan, the junior forward pulled down her 300th career rebound. She becomes the 26th player in Cornell history, and the 11th under Head Coach Dayna Smith, to record at least 600 points and 300 rebounds. Since then, Fitzpatrick has moved into the 800/400 club with her 809 points and 455 rebounds.

LYMAN STEAL STREAK: Shelby Lyman had registered a steal in each of the Big Red's first seven games of the season. That is the longest streak by any Cornell player since Lyman came up with at least one steal in seven consecutive games last year from Jan. 6 through Feb. 4. Prior to Lyman, Allie Fedorowicz '10 registered a steal in eight straight games from Dec. 29, 2009 to Feb. 5, 2010.

LAST POSSESSION: From Nov. 15 to Nov. 25, Cornell played in three games that came down to the final possession of the game, with the Big Red defeating Colgate (59-56) before falling to New Hampshire (62-63) and Eastern Michigan (52-54). The last time Cornell played three games in a row that were decided by the final possession was during the 1996-97 season when the Big Red lost to Brown (63-65) before closing out the season with victories against Penn (65-63) and Princeton (58-57).

DOUBLE-DIGIT STREAK: Sophomore Allyson DiMagno registered double-digit points in the Big Red's first five games this season, extending her streak to seven games, dating back to the final two games of the 2010-11 season, before scoring just seven points in Cornell's victory over Cleveland State. Prior to DiMagno, Clare Fitzpatrick was the last Cornell player to score 10+ points in seven consecutive games, doing so during her rookie year in 2009-10.

SHARP SHOOTERS: The Big Red hit 46 percent from the floor (23-50) against New Hampshire, its best shooting percentage since last season when it connected on 48.9 percent against Longwood on Jan. 9, 2011. Cornell followed that up with a 53.7 performance (29-54) from the floor at Cleveland State, as well as a mark of 54.5 (6-11) from 3-point range against the Vikings. Cornell did those games even better at Penn, hitting 57.1 percent(24-42) from the floor in the 67-53 victory.

LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Cornell's opponents have shot 40 percent or below from the floor in nine of the last 15 games and 14 times in 25 contests this season. Big Red opponents are shooting just 40 percent from the floor for the season, with 10 opponents hitting 35 percent or below.

HOME SWEET HOME: The game vs. Cleveland State was a homecoming for rookie Sarah Poland, who is a native of Valley View, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She played seven minutes, blocked one shot and handed out one assist.

CAREER ASSISTS: A pair of Cornellians tallied a career-high in assists against New Hampshire with Spencer Lane handing out six helpers, while Allyson DiMagno registered five assists.  DiMagno bettered that mark with six assists at Columbia, while Lane had 10 assists in the win over Ithaca College.

MORE ASSISTS: Cornell has recorded double figures in team assists in 19 of the team's 25 games. Included have been 11 games with at least 15 assists.

IVY OPENERS: Since Ivy League round robin play began in the 1982-83 season, Cornell has posted a 15-15 record in conference openers. The Big Red has lost its last three Ivy openers against Columbia and this year's to Princeton, making coach Dayna Smith's record 4-6 in the first game of Ancient Eight play. Cornell has faced the Lions more than any other team, opening the season against Columbia 14 times.

FIRST MINUTES: Freshman Sarah Poland has seen action in 16-of-25 games this season, averaging 6.3  minutes of action. Sarah Talamantes saw her first collegiate playing time at Cleveland State on Nov. 27, while Marissa Rackstraw and Tyler Kim both saw the first minutes of their careers vs. Bucknell. Freshman Christine Kline saw her first action against Princeton.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: All but four of Cornell's victories since the beginning of the 2010-11 season have come at Newman Arena.

HOME OPENER VICTORY: Cornell's 59-56 win over Colgate on Nov. 15 gave the Big Red a victory in its home opener for the first time since beating Albany, 50-46, on Nov. 19, 2008.

FOR OPENERS: With its loss to William & Mary to start the season, the Big Red fell to 17-24 all-time in season openers. Coach Dayna Smith has posted a 1-9 record in season openers during her time with Cornell.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END: Sophomore Shelby Lyman saw her consecutive free throw streak come to an end in the season opener against William & Mary. Lyman hit all 14 of her free throw attempts last season but missed her first attempt against the Tribe to end the streak. 

COACHING HISTORY: With the victory over Ithaca on Jan. 1, 2011, head coach Dayna Smith became the all-time winningest head coach in Cornell women's basketball history with her 81st career win. Smith surpassed Marnie Dacko (1995-2002) to take the record. She has since upped that total to 96 victories.

100 THREES: For the fifth straight season, Cornell reached the century mark for 3-pointers and has now hit 104 this season. The Big Red has registered at least 100 3-pointers in all but one season under head coach Dayna Smith, with the 2006-07 squad coming up just short with 98 treys.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY CONNECTION: Junior college transfer Maka Anyanwu came to the Big Red last year after a successful season at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. Fans of the Big Red should know UCC, as it was the two-year home of former Cornell standout Moina Snyder '07.

BASKETBALL PEDIGREE: Sophomore Stephanie Long isn't the only member of her family to play collegiate basketball. Her father Dennis played basketball for three seasons at UConn.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Sophomore Aspen Chandler comes from a long line of athletes. Her father, Brian Hopgood, had a successful professional basketball career playing in the various domestic and overseas leagues. Collegiately, he played at University of Louisville and Oklahoma City University. While at OCU, he led his team to the NAIA national championship and was a two-time All-American. Her cousin Shelton Johnson plays football for the University of Wisconsin and her grandfather Wayne Long ran track and field in college.

HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has two new faces on the bench for the 2011-12 season, as Kharmen Wingard and Katie Schlein join the women's basketball staff as an assistant coaches. Wingard comes to East Hill after four seasons as the assistant men's basketball coach at nearby Cortland, while Schlein spent the past season working as the assistant director of women's basketball operations at the University of Denver.

TICKLE THE (ALL) IVY: Clare Fitzpatrick was named All-Ivy honorable mention following the 2010-11 season. She led Cornell and ranked 12th in the conference in scoring (11.4 ppg.) and was second overall on the team and 14th in the league in rebounding (5.2 rpg.). She also averaged 1.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game and finished with 17 blocks on the season. In 28 games, she scored in double-digits 20 times. She was the Big Red's leading scorer in 15 games and grabbed a team-high in rebounds in nine contests. Fitzpatrick was also the model of consistency as the only player on the team to start every game last season.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red adds five players to the 2011-12 squad: Christine Kline (Staten Island, N.Y.), Tyler Kim (Los Angeles, Calif.), Sarah Poland (Valley View, Ohio), Marissa Rakestraw (Beaverton, Ore.) and Sarah Talamantes (Broomfield, Colo.). The class of five players comes from five different states and consists of two forwards and three guards.

UP NEXT: The Big Red will complete the 2011-12 season when it meets Columbia on Tuesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.